As Chapa Dimba seeks to nurture and showcase football talent through youth tournaments, Safaricom is also keen to recognize and support communities including youth groups with empowerment outside of football. As a powerful testament to this for instance, the youth of Dandora played a very major role in ensuring security during the tournaments that were held at Dandora Stadium over the weekend.
We spoke to one youth leader, Kennedy Ochieng about the intricacies of security organization in the area, and the benefits of the short-term employment offered to the youth.
Kennedy, popularly known as Chair Keniga, says that due to rising insecurity issues that were giving Dandora a bad rap, he came together with other young residents and begun a movement to enhance security within the community. For this to work, they came up with a court system meant to divide the residential area for easy manning. The members are divided into smaller groups with the responsibility of bringing law breakers to book. The group that employs tens of youth has managed to bring a sense of order in the community by tracking crime and reconciling reformed gang members back to the community.
The system that mimics the government’s nyumba kumi continues to foster a vigilant community, also giving the youth a chance to participate in tangible community works. This sense of security was evident during Chapa Dimba since not a single incident of insecurity was reported in the week or so that Safaricom was in the neighborhood for preparation and tournaments.
Kennedy Ochieng and other youth leaders came through to ensure seamless operations not only during the two day tournaments, but other community engagements that come bundled with Chapa Dimba. The youth selected from different areas of Dandora ensured smooth operations during entrance, through the matches and also exit of the stadium.
Kennedy applauds Safaricom for recognizing and engaging the youth during the weekend tournaments. As one of the coordinators, he is grateful for temporary employment, famously known as ‘janta’ in residential slang. “By choosing to work with us, Safaricom has stamped the legitimacy of our security group, giving us confidence to keep going with the security system. This also brought unity among the youth who came in numbers to work and also watch the tournament.” Said Kennedy Ochieng.
Kennedy urges the youth to come out and collaborate with such initiatives in order to evade vices like crime, drug abuse and even premature death. He also encourages the youth to seize any opportunities to showcase their skills. After all, a lot of talent lies among them, not only in football, but also others like rap, dance, DJ skills and graffiti art.
Safaricom Chapa Dimba is a nationwide football tournament aimed at discovering and nurturing football talent among young people aged 16 to 20 years. The next leg of the program is headed to Wang’uru stadium this coming weekend, before culminating into the finals in Kisumu in coming weeks.
